This is the fourth of six articles on the forthcoming elections.

IV: The McCarran Act: A Test

During the current congressional campaign scarcely a candidate has neglected an opportunity to accuse his opponent of knowingly or unknowingly lending aid and comfort to the Communists. The Korean War has so increased the sensitivity of United States public opinion to the threat of Communism, the politicians think, that fierce opposition to it will be a better political asset than an admirable home life and advocacy of virtue.

Support or opposition to the McCarran Anti-Communist Law has often been used as a measure of anti-Communist feeling. The few outspoken enemies of the law who are up for office--Helen Gahagen Douglas of California, John Carroll of Colorado, Jacob Javitts of New York, and Herbert Lehman of New York--claim that the McCarran Act has so many weaknesses that it will do the Communists more good than harm. Backers of the Act assert that to oppose it implies weak tolerance of the Communists if not outright sympathy with them.

Since the McCarran Act was passed, it has been dissected and denounced by liberal and conservative publications all over the country. Even the Chicago Tribune wasn't sure it approved. It is the law which nobody wants, yet it passed through the Senate and over a presidential veto by a vote of 77 to 7, one of the largest margins by which a measure has been approved in the Senate, other than a declaration of war.

It passed so easily because the senators thought it would be political suicide to vote against anti-Communist legislation. So strong was this feeling that Hubert Humphrey of Indiana voted for the McCarran bill 24 hours after he said on the Senate floor that "the day S. 4037 passes will prove to be one of the darkest pages in American History.

Omnibus Bill

An amalgam of the Mundt-Nixon, Mundt-Ferguson, McCarran, and Kilgore proposals, the McCarran Act provides for the registration of all Communists and officers of Communist groups. It requires these groups to label all their property and literature "disseminated by a Communist organization." It bars members of such organizations from obtaining passports as well as from working for the government or in defense plants.

It tightens the espionage laws and extends the statute of limitations in spy cases from three to ten years. It sets up a Subversive Control Board to determine which groups are Communist dominated and provides for judicial review of this board's decisions. It gives the government power, in time of emergency, to intern persons suspected of intent to sabotage. It makes changes, designed to keep Communists out of the country, in the immigration and naturalization laws.

Candidates Tread Lightly

Few candidates in the current campaign have dared object to the McCarran Act on the grounds that it violates traditional liberties. This has been the argument of the C.I.O., A.F.L., and civil liberties pressure groups. Senator Herbert H. Lehman, who voted against the McCarran Act is one of the few candidates who has opposed the law on the moral ground that it is excessively repressive. Lehman's reelection, however, is reasonably assured.

If some of the anti-McCarran Act campaigners win, it may convince politicians that voting against anti-Communist legislation isn't suicide. Repeal or drastic amendment of the current law may then become a possibility. If many opponents of the McCarran Act lose, especially so strong a figure as Lehman, the Act will probably remain unchanged.